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Monthly Archives: December 2011
Posted inEducation, Media, Social Justice
Bucking a punitive trend, San Francisco lets students own up to misdeeds instead of getting kicked out of school
How one big-city district cut suspensions and expulsions — and why they may rise again
These articles were produced through a reporting collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity.
Instead of being kicked out for fighting, stealing, talking back or other disruptive behavior, public school students in San Francisco are being asked to listen to each other, write letters of apology, work out solutions with the help of parents and educators or engage in community service. All these practices fall under the umbrella of “restorative justice” — asking wrongdoers to make amends before resorting to punishment. The program launched in 2009 when the Board of Education asked schools to find alternatives to suspension and expulsion. In the previous seven years, suspensions in San Francisco spiked by 152 percent, to a total of 4,341 — mostly African Americans, who despite being one-tenth of the district made up half of suspensions and more than half of expulsions. But the data — along with interviews with parents, students and educators — reveal that progress so far is halting and uneven. Critics say that’s because the transition from punitive to restorative justice is underfunded and haphazardly evaluated. The resulting picture is a school-by-school patchwork, at best an unfinished project to reform the traditional juvenile discipline paradigm.
Posted inBay Area, Education, Health, Media, Social Justice
Across San Francisco region, expulsion rates and attitudes toward punishment vary widely
While there are many aspects of culture and politics that unite the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of more than 7 million people, attitudes toward school discipline do not seem to be among them. What happens to students when they disrupt the classroom or commit crimes depends largely on where they live. That is because approaches to expulsion and suspension vary widely across school districts and across the region. While reforms such as restorative justice appear to coincide with decreases in expulsion rates across the region in the last year or two, school administrators at the county and local level have a wide range of views on the best ways to preserve order in schools after a student has misbehaved.
Posted inNews
Clipper Cards to eclipse BART paper tickets for youth, seniors, disabled
By C.K. Hickey, Mission Local From the day BART’s tracks first powered on in 1972, the public rapid transit system has been synonymous with its magnetically striped cards, available in sky blue, pea green or pale red. That familiar pneumatic chink as you insert the card into the terminal gate is as much a part […]
Posted inCity Hall, Homelessness, Law & Justice, News, Social Justice
Legal advocates give San Francisco low marks for penalizing homeless people
A national homeless advocacy organization says San Francisco continues to make criminals out its homeless population. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty reported recently that the city and several other communities across the country penalize homeless people for behaviors related to their lack of housing. The Washington, D.C.-based group studied 234 U.S. jurisdictions, finding that San Francisco places prohibitions on 10 of 14 behaviors. Another local advocacy group recently graded San Francisco with a “D” for its policing efforts, but city representatives say alternative justice experiments are working.
Posted inNews
Ishi, the ‘last wild Indian’ of North America: an anniversary
By Terria Smith, Crosscurrents From KALW News This year marks the 100th anniversary of the public debut of a man called Ishi. Ishi was Native American, a Yana from the Deer Creek area, about 150 miles northeast of Berkeley. And for the past century he’s been known as “the last wild Indian in North America.” […]
Posted inBack Issues, News
Issue 5: Winter 2011
Under the Healthy San Francisco program — the city’s attempt at local universal health care — quality of the care is great. But with uncertain funding and high hidden costs maintaining the program is a challenge.
Posted inNews
Mission High rejiggers school advisory periods
By Alicia Avila, Mission Local A small group of teenagers talking sports and girls passes through the doors of the computer lab on the second floor of Mission High school. One student in particular stands out. She looks like a teenager in a mood, with her backpack hanging from one hand, an attitude in her […]